Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

Server Maintenance - Friday, September 10, 2021

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Friday, September 10 @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 22:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]

Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Friday, September 10th, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — Hotfix 53347

Today's hotfix is aimed at addressing potential issues causing delays in lobby creation, party join and session start wait durations.

[h3]We are addressing three issues:[/h3]

Crash when changing language in Options - Interface screen
Fix for bug not returning lobby query results when 5+ filters are applied
Fix for bug not returning results when server filter is set to 'australiasoutheast'

With so many changes to the game, we won’t be surprised if you have a lot to talk about as you share your experience. As always, we want to hear how all these things change the game (both literally and figuratively). And as always, the best place to do that is over on our official channels:

OFFICIAL FORUM

STEAM FORUM

JOIN DISCORD

—The Age of Empires Team

Ranked Map Rotation – September 07!

Here is the latest Ranked Map Rotation as determined by the developer picks and community vote. For the next two weeks, you’ll be able to pick from the new set of maps listed below!

Map pools as of: 6p Pacific (9p ET / 20:00 UTC / 22:00 CEST) on Tuesday, September 07 to Tuesday, September 21

👤 1v1 MAP POOL

This week's 1v1 Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

AFRICAN CLEARING

ARABIA

ARENA

GOLD RUSH

HIDEOUT

LOWLANDS

MIGRATION

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

This week's TG Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ARABIA

ARENA

BLACK FOREST

FOUR LAKES

MEGARANDOM

NOMAD

OASIS

PACIFIC ISLANDS

RING FORTRESS

You can now play Doom in Age of Empires

Id Software's legendary Doom is playable in a lot of things, including Minecraft, crabs, and in an article we wrote. Now we can add Age of Empires 2 to the list, as a modder has created a full strategy campaign based on Doom - including the FPS's iconic sprites and sound effects.

'Age of Doom' has been created by modder "HellKnight61" (thanks, DSOGaming) and is a full custom campaign for Age of Empires 2 that replays the events of the original Doom's story - mostly in the style of Doom 3, with the escape from Hell by the demons orchestrated by Dr. Betruger, although characters from later Doom games such as Vega do appear.

The mod hit version 1.0 this week and can downloaded at ModDB. It's currently missing the final episode, but still features four episodes and the tutorial. HellKnight61 has added several features to make it play more Doom-like than Age of Empires, including the ability for the Doom marine to flick switches, use teleporters, and even sprint.

Read the rest of the story...

VOTE! Your Ranked Map Rotation starting September 07!

It’s that time again! Visit the official Age of Empires forum to vote for your Ranked map pool for the next two weeks.

This Week's Dev Picks

[h3]1v1 Random Maps[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ LOWLANDS
✔ MIGRATION

[h3]Team Games[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ BLACK FOREST
✔ MEGARANDOM
✔ PACIFIC ISLANDS
✔ RING FORTRESS

Cast Your Vote Now!

To participate in the community ranked map pool vote, you will need to login to the official Age forum using your free Microsoft account. Then, click the images below to jump to this week’s polls.

:alertalert: Polls are open until NOON Pacific on Sunday, September 5 (or 3:00p Eastern / 19:00 UTC), so be sure to cast your vote and check back to see which maps emerge victorious!